Pippy
by SilverGoldCrystal3
Summary: Pippy is a Poplio, she was abandoned by her trainer and has become a Pokemon street preformer, but in the city she is ignored, teased, and rejected. One day she is ready to give up, but then Kamiya finds her and takes her home, Kamiya cares for Pippy and she decides to stay with her. Kamiya trains Pippy further in performing and they slowly rise to the top.
1. Prolouge: Abandonment

**I would like to start of by saying this story is based off/inspired by the song In Your Spotlight by Trickywi on YouTube, lets get started right away.**

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Prolouge: Abandonment

"What was that out there? We got second! We lost! You can't become Alola Queen when you constantly get second place!" she ranted angrily. I looked up at her apologetically, "I'm sorry, you had me training so late last night I couldn't get enough sleep, I-"

"No! Enough of your wimpering! 'Pop pop pop'" she said mockingly. "I can't have you on my team any more, I have tried to be patient with you in hopes you'll get better but these past months but you haven't so you will have to leave!" my trainer hissed, pointing behind me.

"Pop… poplio…"

"Go! Go now! Go, find your grace and balance somewhere else; don't come crawling back to me!" I sat there staring up at her perfect, tan face—still with preforming makeup on— horrified. "GO!" she yelled, the word my trainer had once used as encouragement had turned into one of rejection.

I slowly turned around in the nearly-vacant street and slowly started pulling myself forward, I suddenly felt a sharp, painful stabbing in my tail and turned around to see a tall, dark haired, tan girl—one I thought I knew— glaring at me as I sped up down the street.

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 **Ok, yes I am very much aware this is super short but I will upload super soon with the first, full-length chapter.**

 **Anyway, please tell me in the reviews if you liked the 200 or so words you read XD**


	2. Chapter 1: The Night

**Ok, so I have a habit of writing short chapters btw so... Anyways I don't have much to say so here's chapter 1!**

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Chapter 1: The Night

The rough concrete path rubbed uncomfortably against my stomach and my scratched, now bleeding tail. It grew darker as I inched along the streets of the city, the streetlamps flickering on all at once, startling me; huge buildings seemed to glow from the light inside. It would have all been beautiful if I hadn't felt trapped. Every street looked the same, it felt like I was going in circles, maybe I was…

After even longer most of the lights from the buildings turned off and I had to pull myself into a nearby alley, occupied only by a trubbish or two. I found an old scrap of cloth in one of the garbage cans and pulled it out to make myself a makeshift bed. It was a while before I could actually sleep though, my mind kept replaying the competition.

 _"And finally, last but not least is Janice!" I heard and we rose up on the stage, the moment we appeared Janice yelled "Sylveon use dazzling gleam; Popplio, bubble beam!" I did as my trainer told me and shot my bubbles at the bright ball of light, which then neatly exploded into white sparkles, floating down on the stage; the crowd cheered._

 _The music began and I got in my position on stage left, with Janice and Sylveon in center stage and her Bewear on stage right. Bewear did cartwheels into the center while I backflipped. Janice, hopped onto Sylveon's back and Sylveon used her ribbon-feelers around Bewear and I, lifting us into the air, both of us jumped out of them and backflipped our way to the ground. While we flew through the air Sylveon then lifted Janice up and she backflipped down as well, landing a few seconds after we did._

 _"Popplio use misty terrain!" Janice commanded, I did and the stage became full of mist, but I wasn't fazed, I knew what to do. I danced around the stage, getting lost in the music temporarily until my trainer told Sylveon to use sunny day, which evaporated some of the mist and pushed it into the crowd before it all disappeared into more sparkles._

 _"Popplio use bubble beam…" Janice said nervously. I focused and shot a 4 large bubbles, one each at Bewear, Sylveon, and Janice before at me, all four of us held our breath as we were encased in floating balls of water. We danced up there in the air; at least until my bubbles failed and exploded into water droplets._

 _It was a surprise to all of us— including me—but we were prepared and we gracefully landed on the ground. At least most of us did, instead I fell two or three meters to the ground, despite the pain and how it had knocked the breath out of me, I stood up, my flippers in the air and bowed with the other two Pokemon and our trainer as the crowd cheered._

 _Suddenly I stood in front of Bewear, small dots of teal light flying towards my trainer. "The winner is… Izabella!" echoed through the stadium. I was then backstage with my trainer and followed her as she stormed out of the building and down the street before turning to me. "GO!" echoed in my head and Janice's face turned into a sort of mask and started chasing me._

I jolted out of sleep and was temporarily blinded by the sun shining above me. The trubbish from the night before were gone and I was still tired, I tried to go back to sleep but was too afraid the night mare would come back, I just wanted to forget that had ever happened, forget Janice, forget it all.

There was a jolt of pain in my tail as I tried to sit up and move, I then remembered how Janice had stepped on it the night before.

 _I don't know her… she is no longer my trainer._ I thought bitterly, _but then how am I supposed to preform…_ I wondered.

I really had always loved preforming, but not many people appreciated it, some of them were over the clown act, but I was in a big city, there were many people here, some have to like me. This thought gave me strength, I pulled myself out of the cloth and moved down the street.

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 **Alright, please leave a review telling me what you think, bye for now!**


	3. Chapter 2: Street Preforming

**I'm so sorry it has been so long! Anyways, here is chapter 2, its a little longer this time, if you enjoy please leave a review telling me so, and/or what to improve on, thanks! :3**

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Chapter 2: Street Preforming

I soon found a corner near a huge building that was very busy and had enough people for some to— hopefully— notice me. I then cheerfully started doing the classic Popplio tricks, balancing a bubble on your head, doing acrobatics, all that jazz, but no body turned their head.

The streets soon emptied and the sun was very high in the sky, it was also very hot out, I decided to go back to my alley. As I moved down the concrete again my tail felt hot and I turned to see the cut had opened again and was leaving a thin trail of red behind me. I sighed and continued on my way.

A few blocks down I saw an Audino walking down the street towards me, once it got closer it looked at me, then at my tail and hurried to inspect the cut. "One second, stay here, I'll be right back," the Audino said and ran back the way she came.

I sat there for a moment but then saw a large group of people walking towards me and I moved closer to one of the buildings so as not to get trampled. A few minutes later the Audino came running back, stumbling over her feet but not falling.

"Let me help you," she said, already spraying something on my tail and wrapping it in gauze.

"O-okay…" I answered.

"Where is your trainer?"

"Oh… um… m-my trainer… I don't have one…" I told her hesitantly.

"So you're a wild Popplio?"

I started to feel a little uncomfortable under Audino's intent gaze, "Well… not really… I don't know… I had a trainer… then she left me…"

Audino gasped and quickly covered her mouth to hide it, "I'm sorry; that that happened, do you want to stay at the Pokemon Center? We could help you find another trainer…" she explained.

"Well, I don't really want a trainer… at the moment…" I answered slowly, "But I will accept your offer for shelter, thanks."

Audino smiled, "It's no problem, but you'll need to find another place to live as well, cause you can't stay at the Pokemon center forever."

"Oh, ok, well I can look tomorrow, do you mind leading me to the Pokemon center? I'm kinda new in town…"

"Sure, I need to go back anyways… wait I need to go to the Pokemart for some berries, do you wanna come or should I give you directions?"

I thought about it and answered, "You can just give me directions." Audino then told me the quickest route there— which was actually back the way I had come— and I continued on my way.

When I was about a block away from the Pokemon center I heard footsteps running behind me, I stopped and glanced back and saw the Audino from before running to catch up to me.

"Wait! I… should come with you," she panted once she was beside me.

"Why? You told me they take in Pokemon…"

"Well they are low on staff currently so I'll just come with and get you settled…" Audino led me into the Pokemon center, that looked identical to all the others I had been in, and lead me up some stairs to a hallway lined with doors, she opened the third door on the right and I walked in.

"This is where you can stay for now; by the way I should mention you're sharing the room with a Togedemaru." Audino said and walked away, leaving me alone in the room.

They must be low on rooms, I thought and looked around. The room wasn't very big, just large enough for two small beds, a nightstand in between them and a lamp in each corner. The walls and bedding were white and it looked very plain.

My stomach rumbled but I ignored it and curled up on the bed to sleep once more.

I woke up to the dull light of dawn and bounced into the main area of the center, awake and alert by the time I was on the last step. I recognized the Audino from yesterday at the counter and she turned when I entered the room.

"Hello Popplio, where are you going so early?" she asked politely.

"Street preforming, I want to get out there early, and I need to find a place to do my act… nobody really appreciated me in the area I was yesterday."

Audino nodded, "Well you should eat something first," she told me and pulled a bowl of Pokemon food from under the counter.

 _Where did that come from?!_ I wondered, but then figured they kept food under there… for some reason. I took it anyway and sat in a corner to eat. When I was done I brought my bowl back to the Audino and asked "Do you know any areas that would be good for preforming?"

Audino thought for a moment and then answered, "There is a large business building about a mile down the street… lots of people will be going there for work in the morning…"

"Ok, how do I get there?" I asked cheerfully.

"Several blocks down there is a stoplight, you'll have to go right and cross the street, you walk for about 3 or 4 blocks until you get to a huge office building; there are people going in and out of it all day… s-so plenty of them should see you…" Audino said, I didn't notice at the time how nervous, and worried her voice sounded, especially at the end.

"Thanks!" I said and pulled myself out the door.

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 **Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you enjoy**


	4. Chapter 3: Criticism

**I'm sorry I haven't updated this, my excuse this time is I just started school... Anyway, sorry its so short, I just wanted to get something up... Please comment what you think!**

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Chapter 3: Criticism

I pulled myself down the street until I reached the stoplight I was told about, I jumped up, trying to reach the button to cross, but missed, I tried again, and again, and again. Finally, a man came up and pressed the button, not even glancing at me. I waited for the single to cross and hurried across the street, getting to the other side a moment before the light changed and the cars waiting started zooming cross the intersection.

 _That was a close one,_ I thought with a sigh.

Within about 5 minutes, or 15, I kinda lost track of time, I found—what I assumed to be—the 'huge office building.' It was very tall with two revolving doors at the entrance. Windows seemed to cover a majority of the building, or at least the front. And true to Audino's word there were many people entering the building. I found a place at the corner of the building and stood near the middle of the sidewalk, beginning my performance of jumps, flips, dances and twirls.

The people walking by parted like a river around a rock when passing me, some didn't even look up. I kept up my act, though.

"Look at that wanna be Popplio, thinking it can be the best," I heard a man say and looked up to see two men snickering as they passed by me.

"I just want to have some fun!" I called after them, turning around, I heard another woman laugh as she hurried past me. Despite the taunts I got every so often I kept preforming till the streets were empty. At one point—sometime around 11 o'clock probably—I noticed a young girl with long brown pigtails watching me with both pity and adoration in her eyes, for a minute or so I performed only for her as people walked between us; but then her mother came back and took her into a shop across the street.

Sometime in the early afternoon (I think the clock on the bank sign down the street said 1:36) I decided to make my way back to the Pokemon center.

"You're back," Audino said when I entered and got me another bowl of pokemon food.

"Yeah," I answered, but pushed the bowl of food away, to a confused look from Audino.

"Why won't you eat?" she asked.

"I'm fine, food-wise, don't waste it on me, I don't want to overstay my welcome," I told her firmly. Audino just shook her head and put the food back away.

"You shouldn't starve yourself though, I mean, I know people can be harsh but you just need to ignore them," Audino said.

I looked at her astounded, "Starving myself?! Why in the whole wide world would I _starve myself_?! I love food just as much as the next Pokemon."

Audino looked confused, "Weren't the people at that corner harsh and mean?" she asked. I nodded.

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't they be? Everyone has their critics, some more than others," I explained.

"So you… a-aren't feeling… d-depressed?" as Audino spoke her face grew redder and redder and her voice softer and more uncertain.

I let out a bark of laughter, "Depressed?! I had a mad girl as my former trainer, I think I can take a little criticism from strangers!" I exclaimed.

"Th-then why did you deny the food?" Audino asked uncertainly.

"I can go a day without eating, Janice—my former trainer—sometimes wouldn't give me food if I didn't do well, or lower my rations, there were also times we were short on food and… well in short I can go a day or so without eating." I explained. Audino let out a silent 'oh' and looked away, nodding ever so slightly.

"I think I'll go out and look for a new place to live tomorrow, I don't want to intrude here for too long."

Audino protested to this idea, "But Popplio you've only been here one day, we sometimes have pokemon that stay here a month!" she paused, "Sometimes…"

"Well, honestly I don't really care much for living this the city, there's a forest nearby, I can find a place there," I explained. Audino just shook her head and I went up the stairs back to my bed.


	5. Chapter 4: Searching

**Hey! Here's another chapter, hopefully I'll update again soon... btw, I wrote some parts of this during school, so...**

 **Feel free to review, tell me what you think!**

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Chapter 4: Searching

The night before, I had gotten to meet the Togedemaru Audino had mentioned when I first came to the Pokemon center, he didn't seem very friendly and just kept to himself.

Anyways, when I woke up the next day I went downstairs and quickly ate the Pokemon food a different Audino gave me before starting my travel to the forest.

You know, being a Popplio has its advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages are that we are very graceful and are great swimmers, we are also very cute—if I do say so myself. The disadvantages I mentioned are that there is a lot of bad bias toward us, I'm not even entirely sure why… The other disadvantage I must mention is that we are slow, flippers are not the best for land travel.

When I left the Pokemon center, the sun was barely above the building tops, when I exited the city, it was almost a quarter way across the sky. Then again, I got lost several times.

There was a field I had to cross, luckily it wasn't too big and a rocky road ran through it, directly into the forest. I traveled along beside the road, on the grass. The dirt felt soft and wonderfully soothing against my skin after the rough, paved roads of the city. Even the prickly grass—which I usually found uncomfortable—felt good today.

It didn't take me too long to get to the forest, which was shadowy due to the leafs growing thickly on the trees above me. The rocky road I had traveled beside had turned into a more welcoming-looking dirt path, with short clumps of grass growing in the middle; I was tempted to follow this path but reminded myself that all it would do was lead me to the next city or town. Instead I branched off and found a small trail where there was less undergrowth and foliage, just wide enough for me to pass through with ferns or bushes brushing my flanks every so often.

The forest was lovely, I saw many Grubbin and Caterpie crawling around and Pikipek in the trees, a Cutiefly flew here and there, there was also a river I found with Magikarp and Wishiwashi in the water, Wimpod on the banks. A Yungoos once skittered across my path as well.

At one point I found an old, hollow tree that was open at the top and was blacked by—what I assumed had been—lighting. I also entered a clearing where several mean-looking rattatas and a raticate were gathered and I quickly backed out and wandered around in the forest some more.

"Hey, hey, you there," said a high, rather raspy, quiet voice; when I entered a clearing, with a patch of sun in the center.

I suddenly stopped and looked around, "Me?" there was no response, "I know you're there!" I cried out into the forest.

"I know you know I'm here, just where _is_ here?" the voice asked.

"I-I don't know, can't you come out, or at least tell me what Pokemon you are?" I said, turning around to inspect the forest behind me.

"Why, that would reveal my identity! But I'm kind of insulted you're searching the ground," the voice said, as if it were mocking me.

I turned my head towards the sky, trying to see if there was anything flying above me, "Why do you need to hide your identity?" I asked.

"If trainers knew what Pokemon I was, they would all be after me, and I don't really feel like being kept in a ball all day, only brought out to fight until I feint or train until I can't go on any more. By the way, what makes you think I'm _that high up?!_ "

I wasn't really sure how to respond to that statement, since I hadn't ever been in a proper Pokemon battle. Instead I tried to replay what it said and piece it together to figure out what pokemon I was talking to. "Well… can we talk face-to-face?" I requested, when I finally couldn't.

"You are a Popplio, a rather commonly rare Pokemon given out to new trainers, your trainer must be nearby, and I can't reveal myself to them remember? So, I'm afraid we shall never speak, face to rock."

 _Wait what?_ I thought, as I comprehended the last three words, "Wait, but I don't have a trainer!" I remembered, "Will you reveal yourself?" There was a pause before the voice replied.

"I don't know if you're telling the truth or lying, you could be lying and the moment I show which Pokemon I am, your trainer will come running out from behind a bush."

"Do you really think trainers are so clever, or stupid, as too send their Pokemon into the forest alone just to catch a 'rare' Pokemon?!" I exclaimed in exasperation. I continued to scan the trees, then tried using bubble to hit the Pokemon or, at least, lure it out of hiding.

"That's not going to help," the voice said, but I didn't stop, I focused on the leaves, hoping to find a tail out of place, an unnatural color, or the shifting of branches, revealing where the Pokemon was hiding.

 _This Pokemon is very sneaky,_ I thought, _And stubborn…_

Suddenly I spotted a small, white light, too dim to be an Illumise. I shot more bubbles at it.

"You can't hit me," the voice sing-songed, though the leaves near the small light had rustled and I didn't think it was because of the bubbles. I shot many more at that area and finally heard a growl and saw a large, round rock fall from the tree.

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 **That's it! Cliffhanger... kinda xD**


	6. Chapter 5: Minior

**OMG thank you to everyone who Favorited and Followed this story, I really appreciate it and I love you all! So I have a request for you all, please leave in the reviews any suggestions for future chapters, thanks. ^-^**

 **Also, Pokemon Sun and Moon is out now so I would like to clarify some stuff a little bit. First off: obviously, this is not totally based off the games and, unless there is a preformer/showcaser in the anime (which I will try to keep up with) any preforming will be based off the X and Y anime.**

 **One more disclaimer: In chapters 1 & 4, I didn't know about Popplio's move set, and so I have changed it a little in this chapter. **

**Ok, I'm done talking/typing, I hope you enojoy!**

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Chapter 5: Minior

"Hey what do you think you're doing?!" the rock exclaimed as it hit the ground and bounced back up to float a foot above the ground.

This Pokemon was rather small and round, and had two black holes where it's eyes would be, it had a hard, rocky sort of shell around it with five holes around the edge, where small white points were sticking out of.

I looked at the Pokemon, confused, "What kind of Pokemon are you?" I asked it.

"I'm a minior!" The Pokemon exclaimed, indignant.

"Oh…" I said, still confused, "Sorry, I've never heard of a minor before."

The pokemon let out a strange yelp, "You haven't… b-but… we're… nevermind… wait, did you just call me a _minor?!_ "

"Isn't that what you said?"

"I SAID MINIOR! Min-E-or, I would prefer if you called me Min though," Minior said, clearly annoyed now.

I laughed, then stopped when Min glared at me, "So where is your trainer?" he asked.

"I told you, I don't have one!" I insisted, then mumbled bitterly, "She left me."

"Oh! Well if _that's_ the case, what was your problem? Not strong enough? Not cool enough? Couldn't learn a move?" Min intruded.

"NO! I… I… I wasn't good enough, I wasn't talented enough… I couldn't do well enough…" I said, my voice getting slower as I realized I was worthless. I remembered all the other Pokemon I had watched performing, how they had known what they were doing, how they didn't look strained or concentrated, like I had, they were happy, and free, and confidant in what they were doing. They didn't have to think about the moves, they didn't have to worry about whether they would land the flip, or move in time with the beat. I couldn't add up to them, no matter how hard I tried, they were all better than me…

"Hey, HEY! Popplio!" Min yelled, floating in front of me, and jolting me out of my thoughts. _I can do better._ I added in my head, trying to stay positive.

"Yeah?"

"Show me what you can do."

I looked at Min questioningly. "Battle me!" Min demanded before I could ask for clarification.

"B-but I've never—" my protests were interrupted by several stars flying at me, and I yelped and moved to the side before they could hit me.

In retaliation I used Water Gun and shot back a thin beam of water at Min, unfortunately he quickly dodged and I used Water Gun several more times, none of them hitting.

"Hey! I can't hit a moving target you know!" I yelled angrily.

"Your opponent doesn't always do what you want, that's probably why you're bad at battles," Min pointed out, dodging another stream of water.

"I've never been in a Pokemon battle though!" I said, and before I could do or say anything else I was hit by a purple beam, and forgot what I was doing, losing my train of thought.

"How have you never been in a Pokemon battle?!" Min asked.

 _Pokemon battle? Oh, right,_ I thought, and created a balloon to jump up to Min's level in the tree branches and use Pound. Unfortunately, the balloon wasn't enough to hold me, and it popped before I could make my attack, so I tumbled to the ground.

"What do you mean you've never been in a Pokemone battle?!" Min repeated.

"My former trainer is a performer! I do Pokemon performances, not battles!" I explained.

Min floated back down to the ground, "I've never heard of these performances…" he commented.

I was shocked, "Y-you haven't… B-but… Well, I guess it makes sense, considering you're a _wild_ Pokemon." Min started to protest but I continued to talk over him.

"Well, you see, the official term, is a 'Pokemon Showcase,' but my trainer didn't call them that, she simply called them performances, and we are the performers. First off, there are two classes, the Rookie and the Master class, newbies start off in the Rookie class, then need to gain three princess keys by winning contests to join the master class. I don't know much about the Master class, but I know about the Rookie class. There are two performances in the Rookie class during each contest; the first is the Theme Performance, which is different every time, so I can't really generalize—"

Min must've been getting bored with my rambling and interrupted me, saying, "Yeah, I wasn't asking you to give me a whole lecture on this," he said, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry," I said.

"Well, I'll be going, bye," Min started floating back into the forest when I realized he could help me.

"Wait, Min!" I cried out and he turned around, I moved across the clearing so I could talk to him better. "Do you think you can show me around this forest? I would like to find a place I can make a home," I requested.

Min looked surprised, and confused, then answered; "Uh… sure, I guess. Come with me." I did as I was told, and followed Min deeper into the forest.

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 **Thats it for this chapter, I'll try to upload again soon :3**


	7. Chapter 6: The Pond

**Oh my gosh! I've been off so long I lost all my documents I had on here!** **At least I still have them all on my laptop.** **Anyway, I am not dead, I am still writing this story, I just haven't because... I... um... haven't *sigh* oh well, school is out! I'm going to try and speed this so we can get onto the plot I have planned, so sorry if this chapter is fast paced, please enjoy it anyway!**

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"So are you looking for anything specifically?" Min inquired.

I took a moment to think about it, "Well, not really… just somewhere sheltered, near a supply of berries, and not too far away from the city," I requested.

"Why wouldn't you want to be far from the city?"

"Well I still want to be able to perform on the streets there!"

"That's pitiful, no one likes street performers anymore! That's so 18th century!" Min complained, "They just get in everyone's way! I mean people are trying to get somewhere, they don't have time to watch a stupid person—or Pokemon—dancing on the street!"

I was silent as I listened to Min rant. _O-of course no one cares, why would anyone want to watch a pitiful thing like me flop around? He's right, I should just stop, give up, no one cares._

"Hey, Popplio… Pops… Poppy… Leo," Min snapped me out of my discouraging thought, floating in front of my face. "are you ok?" he pressed.

"F-first off, its just Popplio, not Pop, or Leo or whatever else," I protested, and tried to keep my cool as I continued. "Second of all, I am right here, I am a street performer, and I do not like what you just said!"

"Oh, well just say so, no need to get so defensive about it," Min said.

"Are you really surprised that I'm annoyed about that?!" I asked, shocked.

"Well shouldn't it just roll off your back?"

"No! Not for me at least! I really don't like that!"

"Well if you're a performer you should get used to getting negative criticism like that. Not everything is going to be all happy and rainbows for you. People and Pokemon hate things, sometimes for no reason, sometimes for reasons we will never know. And they will say it to your face, so don't give them even more satisfaction by being hurt by it!" Min scolded me.

"You're so mean! You're fired as my guide!" _But he has a point…_ I thought.

"I was you're guide? Well that was quick…" I heard Min mutter, as I ran past him as fast as my useless little flippers could take me.

After a little bit, I ran out of both breath and motivation to keep running. I had smelled water, and was following that, when I stopped it was on the edge of a pond, and at the bottom of a shallow scoop in the earth. The pond filled most of the area, and the land gently sloped up on three sides. Straight across from me was a wall of rock and dirt, a cliff created an overhang over the water, and underneath there was about a yard of sand from the water to the cliff-face.

 _This is perfect!_ I thought, hopping into the water, and swimming around in it with the Wishiwashi, and Poliwag. I swam to the dim stretch of sand under the cliff, and suddenly realized. _I don't know where I am…_

"H-hey, do you know how to get to the city from here?" I tentatively asked a nearby Poliwhirl, who looked at me in surprise.

"I don't know why you would _want_ to go to that filthy place, but the meadow is about half a mile that way, then you just travel East," he answered, pointing South.

"Ok, thank you," I replied, and swam back to the stretch of sand, then fell asleep in the shade after my long day.

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 **Heh, well Min disappeared pretty quickly... sorry about that.**


	8. Chapter 7: Blessed and Beaten

**Hi again! This chapter was pretty hard to write, I don't usually do things like this, but we're finally getting the story along! I hope you enjoy and I'll try to post the next chapter soon.**

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Chapter 7: Blessed and Beaten

That night I had my nightmare again, the one about the day I was abandoned by Janice and I woke up still tired, despite how long I had slept, though I was filled with even more determination to prove to Janice I could do well on my own.

 _Today. Today I will do it, I don't know what exactly I'm doing, but I will do it! I wonder if I can enter a performance by myself…_ These were what my thoughts were like on my way to the city that afternoon. It took me a lot longer than I thought it did compared to the day before, but then again, I did get lost a few times.

It had been five days since I left, though it felt like ages ago, so much had happened, and I just really wanted to forget about her.

That day I saw the girl from before, who had the brown pigtails, though now that I saw her hair in the light it seemed to be a lighter brown than I thought. Today she had her hair in two buns at her neck and wore a black tank top tucked into a short, pink skirt. On her shoulder was a causal grey tote bag She was walking down the street towards me, and I happily leaped for her, hoping she would notice me again and stop.

The girl did, I saw her smile when she noticed me and run up and kneeled next to me, her skirt laying neatly over her legs and her bag being set on the sidewalk next to her. "Hi," she said in a soft, gentle voice that was filled with awe.

I felt my lips turn up as I hopefully asked, "Do you like my performance?" though I knew she didn't understand.

"I saw you the other day! What are you doing here?" she continued, and behind her I noticed some people passing turn and look at us, scowling and scorning, I quickly moved my gaze back to her face. It was a rather pretty face, she had light blue eyes, and long eyelashes, with neat eyebrows arching over them. Her skin, like most other's on the islands, was tan from the sun. Lose hairs framed her face, and I saw her nose and ears were larger than normal.

"Can you show me more?"

My face turned from one of distraction to eagerness, and I nodded, scooting back a bit, and almost bumping into a man's foot. He looked down and grumbled, before continuing on his way. I quickly brushed it off and turned towards the girl. I created a bubble in front of me and jumped on it a few times, gaining height and flipping one more time with each jump, after about five jumps the bubble popped and I went into a back handspring. The girl clapped for me, but stopped when she noticed a group of three boys glaring.

"You actually _like_ that gross thing?!" one of them barked when he saw her looking. They all wore baggy jeans, and black sweaters zipped up and with the hood up over a beanie, one wore a red one, the other a blue one, and the other a grey baseball hat.

"Yes! And I don't think he's gross!" she objected. There was suddenly a beeping, and the girl pulled something out of her bag, "Oh no! I gotta go! Come back tomorrow Popplio!" she said, and stood up, waved goodbye, and ran off. I looked after her, then turned towards the boys, who were advancing towards me, grinning.

"U-um…" I tried to say something in my defense, but couldn't think of anything.

"You think you're all that?" red-beanie growled, and they continued to advance towards me. No one payed attention as I was pushed into a back alley. "Perfect conditions."

They started by spitting at me, then prodded me with some four-pronged pointy thing from a nearby trash can. "You know where you are right now?" blue-beanie asked. "Our street," he answered his own question.

"We don't like strange Pokemon and… whatever it is you were doing," red-beanie cringed in disgust.

I was scared as they continued to hit me, and from the side I felt the four prongs jab into my side, once, twice, three times, before I felt a thin trickle of blood well from the new wound. I looked up and around. Red-beanie towered in front of me, trash bags were to my right side, with grey-beanie to my left with the prongs, and blue-beanie behind me. I was completely trapped. It would have been smart to cry out. But I didn't. It would have helped me to use a move. But I didn't think of it until the event was over.

I don't know how long it took the boys to finish their fun, but it felt like hours. They stepped on my tail, and face, they kicked me around. Not only did that physically hurt me, but they spiritually did, they insulted me, told me I was worthless, told me everything I didn't need to hear. Finally, they left, but only after knocking over one of the trash cans on me.

I couldn't stand. I was left beaten, bruised, and cut. Blood dripped from my nose, and I felt the old wound in my tail had re-opened. My left eye was blackened and it was painful to have it open. Not only was I beaten, but I was covered in human's trash. Banana peels, apple cores, and fruit seeds. Half eaten slices of meat, and fast food wrappers, candy wrappers, and a sticky substance covered me.

 _I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this…_ repeated through my mind, and I closed both eyes, accepting that no one would appreciate me, and that I was trash. I accepted everything the boys told me, all thoughts and memories of the girl had been driven from my mind. Hunger nipped at me as I realized I hadn't eaten anything substantial since they Pokemon center, but these pains were dulled after a while.

I laid there for a long time. Minutes? Days? Like before I couldn't keep track. I was ready to give up, and eventually fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 8: Kindness

**Thank you all! I kinda had a mini freak out when I noticed this story had been added to a community on here! I hope everyone who has followed and favorited and reviewed on here will keep reading this, I will try to consistently upload for you all.**

 **I am a bit worried about this, and I hope you will tell me what you think, but do some events seem forced or unrealistic? Or Popplio's character inconsistent? Again, please tell me if there is anything I should alter.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Chapter 8: Kindness

I woke up in the same spot I had laid down, it was shadowy in the alley, and I looked around to get a good sense of my surroundings. Like before, there was trash surrounding me, and trash cans to my right. Tall, windowless walls of buildings towered over me on both sides. A few feet in front of me was the street, where I saw a few people lingering on the sidewalk. I couldn't see much behind me and didn't have the strength, energy, or motivation, to move enough to get an unobstructed view, but I could tell there was nothing much more interesting.

I stared straight ahead, and made no effort to get the junk off me. There weren't many people on the sidewalks, so I could assume it was about mid-afternoon, the next day, when everyone was still at work. I lowered my head back to the cracked pavement in an attempt to go back to sleep.

 _This world doesn't want me, it doesn't approve, not even Janice approved. What am I even trying to do? Make others happy? Prove her wrong? Improve my skills? Get in another actual performance? Why did I even come to this city? I can't even survive a week! I'm not a city Pokemon! I should be in the forest, swimming in that pond, with the soft and moist sand on my belly, not this rough, hard, strange rock! It's too late to go back now, I probably wouldn't make it… I'm not even in good health… not like this. Like this I'd probably die of blood loss…_ My depressing thoughts continued to engulf me as I drifted into sleep.

I continued to be in a limbo sort of state between being awake and asleep for the next day. Some people looked in and saw me, but continued walking. At one point a man came in to smoke, but took no notice of me. I did not see the girl again.

 _Why did she even take interest in me if she wasn't going to come back… Did she just want me to make a fool of myself?! Of course, that must be it._ I didn't know why I was so focused on being negative, maybe subconsciously I was being dramatic or stubborn, but no positive thoughts entered my brain.

I woke up to darkness—the middle of the night—but it was not in the alleyway. Instead of cold rocks, I slept on something smooth, soft, and warm, and I felt it wrapped around me. I was not covered in the trash, but I still felt sticky from the liquid that had poured on me. I looked around and saw I was on the ground, with a large bed to my left, and a nightstand behind me. I tried to get a look at who was in the bed, but I still felt sore and gave up, deciding to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep. _Where am I? How'd I get here?!_ Questions like these nagged at my brain, and while I tried to convince myself that these would likely be answered in the morning, and that it would come quicker if I slept, I still couldn't put my mind at rest. Unlike in the alley, when time seemed to go very fast, time seemed to go painfully slow as I waited for the morning. All my rest in the past two days seemed to finally catch up to me, and while I dozed off for a few minutes at a time, it seemed to be a long time until I saw the dim light of dawn through the window in front of me.

The bed creaked, and I suddenly saw a grinning face staring at me from over the edge of the bed. "You're finally awake!" she cheered.

 _It's the girl! She_ did _come back!_ I thought happily.

"Mom! Mom! Popplio is up!" she called, hopping out of bed and running out of the room.

A minute later a tall, tan, blonde haired woman walked in the room with the girl eagerly bouncing behind her. The woman crouched down in front of me, "Hey," she breathed in the same way the girl had when I first met her. Aside from hair color, nose, and ears, her and the girl looked very similar. Same large, round blue eyes, and same eyebrow shape—from what I could tell from their faces.

"Now that you're awake, let's get you a bath," the woman said smiling, then turned to the girl. "Kami, go get the bath ready."

"Of course!" the girl replied, and ran off once again.

The woman turned back to me, "I'm Lea, we found you yesterday evening in that alley covered in trash and completely out of it. Kami said you must be the Popplio we were looking for, so we took you home. You still didn't wake up, so we decided not to clean you up or anything at the time," she explained, in a more normal voice than before.

"Lea…" I muttered, and she smiled in response.

"Now, let's get going!" Lea picked me up much more gently than Janice ever had—though it may have been because I was still dirty.

Several minutes later I was in a warm tub of water in a bathroom, with the girl scrubbing my thin coat of fur. "You must've gotten some soda or juice spilt on you," the girl commented. She stopped when she reached the wound in my side, which had been a constant dull ache I had grown used to.

"Mom! Can you bring a potion or two up here?" she called behind her, and picked me out of the water to get a better look at the wound.

"It isn't too deep, but we should wash it well and put some antibiotic ointment on it, along with a potion. It could be infected from being around all that garbage. There is also a wound in her tail, I should do the same to that." I heard her pause in her muttering, which resumed even quieter a moment later. "You have bruises all over the place, what happened?" I simply bowed by head.

Several moments later Lea re-entered with what I easily recognized as two potions, and a small towel. Like she had said, the girl had retrieved some ointment from a cabinet and spread it on both wounds, Lea then sprayed a generous amount of the potions on the wounds, and they put a bandage on my side, and wrapped up my tail.

"Thank you!" I said happily, looking at my tail when they were all done. Lea nodded, and left the room again, after declaring she was going to make breakfast. The girl finished scrubbing me outside of the bath, then dried me off and gently carried me to the kitchen, where I was placed on the floor in front of a bowel of Pokemon food.

"Have you had Pokemon food before?" the girl asked, sitting on a chair nearby, then turned around and talked to her mother, "You gave her the right Pokemon food, right Mom?"

"Of course, we only have two kinds," Lea answered, and I dug into the unnaturally textured, but nonetheless delicious, food. The girl continued to stare at me with her cheek resting on her hand.

"Are you a wild Pokemon? You seem so peaceful for a wild Pokemon. Why were you preforming like that in the city? I'm assuming you like it. I-I was kinda hoping you would become my Pokemon and enter competitions and performances with me," she rambled. At the last statement, I whipped around and looked at her eagerly, nodding, not being able to say anything with a mouthful of food.

"Y-you want to? Really?!" she exclaimed, surprised.

"Of course! Of course!" I replied.

"W-wait right here!" she then stumbled out of her chair and rushed down the hallway, a moment later I saw her running back towards me, and she skid a bit on the smooth floor as she came to a stop in front of me, a familiar red and white ball in her hand.

"A pokeball, if you touch it, you'll go into it and become my Pokemon, and a part of my family!" she excitedly explained what I already knew. I leaped at it, headbutting it in her hand. I felt the sensation of my body going numb as I was transferred into the cozy ball. It shook, one, two, three times. Outside I heard a squeal, and I appeared back on the kitchen floor in front of the girl.

"A Popplio! I have an actual Popplio on my team!" the girl hugged me, and all I could see was the brown of her hair, and the pink of her nightgown. All I could feel was happiness. This girl had driven away my two days of misery from my body in mere minutes.


	10. Chapter 9: Names

**Ok, so I kinda made a mistake with Popplio knowing Bubble Beam despite not being at the level to know it... S-so can we pretend that like, the two or three times I mentioned Bubble Beam, she actually used Water Gun? ^~^''**

 **Anyway, as always please enjoy this chapter! :)**

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Chapter 9: Names

The girl let go of me, and let me continue eating—it was a rather large bowel. "You finish up there, and I'll finish up here, then I'll be right back!" she said, quickly eating the eggs, toast, and blueberries her mom had put in front of her, then running back into the hallway. I quickly finished my food like she told me and waited by her chair for her.

A few minutes later she ran back out in short jean shorts, a light blue shirt, and her hair in a high ponytail. She also had a belt that held two of the smaller versions of pokeballs. "Come outside!" she exclaimed, waving her hand for me to follow her.

They had a rather large backyard, there were a few large trees in the two far corners, casting most of the yard into shadow early in the morning. There also appeared to be a garden of vegetables to the left, and flowers to the right. The center was completely open. The girl sat down in the middle of the yard and motioned for me to as well.

"Now, I don't think I've properly introduced myself yet," she started by saying, "My name is Kamiya Rosewhal, but most people just call me Kami."

"Kamiya… Kami…" I muttered to myself, and she smiled before continuing.

"I was born August 7th. I am 14 years old. My zodiac sign is Leo. My name means unique, and I am a Pokemon coordinator slash performer. I do both, though I don't really know the significant difference," she whispered the last two phrases as if it were a secret. I nodded.

"Now!" she said loudly, startling me, then continued at a normal volume level, "You may be wondering who my other Pokemon are, so come on out!" she addressed air, and tossed up her two pokeballs, therefore two Pokemon appeared in front of us, a lurantis, and a yellow oricorio.

"Ok you two, this is Popplio, she's going to perform with us! I would like you two to introduce yourselves," Kami eagerly explained.

Oricorio jumped forward, "My name is Cory! I'm a Pom Pom Style Oricorio!" She seemed to make each phrase into a cheer, and the pom-poms on her wings cracked with static electricity with her moves. I turned my attention to the Lurantis.

"Well, I'm Tia, or Tess, choose _one_ and stick to that _one,"_ she glared at me.

"I-I guess I'll call you Tia," I responded.

"That's perfect! I call her Tess!" Cory exclaimed, "And Kami is the only one who can call her both Tess and Tia," she whispered in my ear.

"Oh! You need a nickname Popplio!" Kami suddenly said, grinning at me, I eagerly nodded. "Hm… Let's see… Popplio…" she began muttering to herself again.

 _I'm going to have a nickname! Janice never gave me a nickname! This is so exciting!_

After a few moments of Kami thinking, and the three of us watching her, she exclaims, "Popps! How about it?" she looks at me hopefully. I simply had a look of what I hoped was not shock on my face, but Kami could tell I didn't like it, 'cause she said, "No? Ok…" and went back to thinking.

"This is the longest she has spent on a name…" Tia commented in a monotone voice.

"Ok I've got it now!" Kami says a moment later, "Pippy! We'll call you Pippy! It's very fun."

"Pippy. Piiiiippyyyyy," Cory continued to repeat my new name over and over in a weird voice each time.

I nodded, "I like it too!"

"Pippy the Popplio… I guess it has a nice ring to it," Tia said, with a small smile.

"I like it!" Cory finally concluded.

"Ok! Everyone line up!" Kami ordered, standing up, she then pointed to us one by one from right to left and cheered, "Pippy! Tess! Cory!" she pointed to herself, "And Kamiya! YAY!" She finished her weird little cheer on one foot with her other foot next to her knee and one hand on her hip and the other in a fist reaching up towards the sky, like some weird superhero.

"Is this normal?" I whispered to Tia, who sort of grinned and replied with, "Kind of, yeah."

I grinned as well. _Family, friends, a name, a way to preform, and best; happiness! I have it all here!_

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 **Ok, sorry that was kinda short... I felt it was a good stopping point. Anyways will it be confusing for Lurantis (Tia/Tess) to have two names? or should I simply call her Tia? Please tell me in the reviews!**


	11. Chapter 10: Practice

**Hi! Its been a few days, but I have a long chapter this time! I worked hard on it, so I hope you enjoy! :)**

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Chapter 10: Practice

That same day I started practice with Kami, Tia, and Cory. Kami also explained her performance situation with everyone else on the walk to the park they practiced at. Turns out her mom was also a performer, and had been training her and giving her tips since the day Kami could walk. She took a dance class in the city (she said it was Hauoli city) on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and often shopped in the city, but those were usually the only reasons she would go to the city, since they lived in the suburbs.

Before Kami had caught her own Pokemon, she used her mother's Pokemon to practice with, and along with Lea, Reena—Lea's star Tsareena—was also a teacher to Kami. When she was eleven, she went to the wild to find and catch a Pokemon of her own, she ran into a Fomantis and fell in love with the Pokemon, catching it on the spot and making it her main performance partner. About a year later Fomantis evolved into Lurantis when she caught Oricorio with her father, who was a Pokemon trainer. Then, a short three months later, and a few weeks after her birthday, she entered her first local performance at the age of thirteen. Kami has been doing local performances once or twice a month since then, along with one of Lea's Pokemon, usually a Skitty named Kit Cat.

"Anyway, I'm very glad you're here, not only cause I _love_ Popplios, but cause now I don't need to use my mom's Pokemon anymore! Hopefully we can get some more Pokemon to join us so we can have more variety," Kami finished up her explanation as we entered the park.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Cory cheered, jumping up and down, "We can make more friends too!"

I laughed a bit at her, but found myself panting a little, I turned to Tia, "Hey, why is the park so far? And why are we walking?"

Tia looked at me surprised, but answered. "It's to increase stamina, if you get tired walking this, you won't last long in a real performance."

"O-oh yeah…" I muttered, and found myself blurting out, "I was tired in my all my performances with… my old trainer."

"Hm, but not be very good if she didn't even teach her Pokemon stamina!" Tia commented harshly.

I was surprised at how much I took that comment to heart, and was disappointed at myself for not liking Tia's criticism of Janice.

"Wait, you've had a trainer before?!" Cory exclaimed, jumping back to my side.

"Well, she would've had to. Where would a wild Pokemon learn about performances and competitions anyway?" Tia snapped at her.

"Well, she hatched me from an egg, so from level one I was taught performances…" I said.

"Who was your trainer? If you don't mind telling," Tia asked, rather kindly.

"Janice," I muttered.

"Janice, Janice, Janice…" Cory repeated quickly, "Oh! We know her! With a Sylveon?" I nodded, "Oh yeah, we know her!" she said again.

"W-wait really?!"

"Oh yeah, we beat her once," Tia smirked.

Kami then turned around towards us as we entered the center of the park. "Ok everyone! Let's make this the best practice ever! Now, show me what moves you know Pippy," she asked me, sitting on a bench. In reply, I used the four moves I knew, them being Water Gun, Baby Doll Eyes, Pound, and Aromatic Mist.

"Hm… ok, I can work with that!" Kami said, pulling a notebook out of her mini-backpack and scribbling some stuff down on a blank page.

"Now, Pippy, our performances are not simply using moves for a pleasing visual effect, we try to stimulate all five senses," Tia started to explain to me.

"Tes, Tes wait!" Cory interrupted her, "We can't stimulate all five senses! We can't make the audience taste something! Not normally."

"Well, sure, but we can make them enjoy what they are seeing, smell sweet things—"

Cory cut Tia off once again, "Tes, Teeeees! We can't make them smell anything yet!"

"Well we _will_ once I reach level 40 and learn Sweet Scent!" Tia snapped at her, and Cory just snickered.

"What about feeling things?"

"They feel things when they get all tingly and excited from watching our performances," Tia answered me excitedly, and I could see her eyes sparkling from how close she leaned into me.

"Kamiiii, when will we start practice?" Cory whined, prodding her leg.

"I need to come up with a plan, be patient you all," Kami said, and looked at all of us, "Tia, why don't you tell Pippy what we usually do?"

Tia crossed her arms (well, claws) and looked smug, "That's what I have been doing. I know Kami so well that I know what she'll tell me to do before she even tells me!"

"No need to act so proud about it," Cory pointed out.

As Tia and Cory bickered, I absent-mindedly practiced making bubbles. It was something all Popplios did, and I liked to use them when doing a routine or just doing acrobatics.

"Ok, Pippy!" Tia called out to me, and I turned my attention to her, standing up straight. "Run to that tree and back!" she pointed to a large tree, some 30 feet away.

"Oh… A-are you sure… I-I'm not sure if I can—"

"Do it Pippy!"

"I'll race you! Ready?" Cory asked, and I shook my head, but she didn't look at me, "Set, gooooo!"

I saw Cory jog towards the tree, and I tried to hurry across the grass, but flippers and blubber were just no good on land. The grass did nothing but slow me down, and by the time Cory turned around, I was only about halfway there. Cory stopped when she reached me, and I sighed.

"I-I'm sorry, these things just aren't any good on land," I apologized, holding my flippers up, "I think training for me would be better in the water."

"Hm… That's ok Pip! We just need to accommodate for your… um… setback!" Cory comforted me.

"Hey! Whats the hold up! No chit chat during practice!" Tia barked at us. Cory smiled at me, and stayed next to me as we made our way back to her, and I told her my suggestion of doing what they were doing, simply in the water.

"That would work. We do running and other exercises like it to increase stamina—as I mentioned earlier—if increasing your stamina in the water is what would work best for _you_ then I think it is no trouble to move our practice closer to the river," Tia mused in response.

"S-so you think it would be ok?" I asked hopefully, and Tia nodded, smiling in response, then tugged at Kami's skirt, pointing south.

"We need to practice near the river so—"

Kami suddenly stood up, holding her notebook out in front of her triumphantly. "I've figured it out!" she exclaimed. "Don't worry about stamina today Tes, we're going to go straight into the routine today!" she looked at us, and directly at me, "We need to show Pippy what we can do! But I'm getting ahead of myself, before we can do anything we must: A. Stretch, and B. Show Pippy one of our routines!" Kami explained it all rather quickly, and I could tell Tia was a bit relieved that out trainer had a plan for this unusual practice.

Like Kami said, the four of us warmed up with stretches, and Cory explained what I already knew—that if people and Pokemon didn't warm up before a performance they could pull a muscle or be injured in other ways. It was tricky for me, not having 'proper' legs and arms, and I felt guilty for burdening my team with needing to change minor things for me practice. I hoped I would have had a much smoother transition into their team, but I had to do many things different from the three other four-limbed members. Despite this, I ended up finishing the stretches, and Kami consoling me that I wasn't holding anyone back.

"Ok, now Pippy, you sit by the bench, and… Tia and Cory will be over here with me," Kami said, walking behind me and the bench. "Wait, we're… Oh yes! We need Dragonair!" Kamiya threw out a pokeball, and out popped a gorgeous Dragonair. She stood in the middle with the Dragonair, Tia was on her left, and Cory was on Dragonair's right. Kami started her music, which began softly, and crescendoed to be upbeat.

"Ok start off with Feather Dance!" Cory jumped forward and used the move, blocking my view of them with feathers like a curtain, they were then blown towards me and dissolved into miniscule particles of fluff with Dragonair's Twister.

It was clear the four knew the routine well, as they all used moves and danced without Kami's instruction, and she was able to explain and point out a few things during their performance.

"As you saw, we often like to open our routines by hiding ourselves in a cloud of something, then clearing it with another move to create particles and reveal us," she said after Dragonair had used Twister.

"I also like to incorporate dance and gymnastics into the routine," Kami continued after her and the Pokemon did a few seconds of hip-hop.

Cory then used Hidden Power, lighting up the four of them in white light, and a second later the light was tinted blue as Dragonair used Dragon Rage while the other three did a cartwheel into a back flip—which I knew must've taken lots of practice. Kami took a step back, with her arms held out in front of her, like she was presenting the three Pokemon who stood in a line in front of her. This time Cory was in the middle, Dragonair was on the left, and Tia was on the right. Cory took a step forward, and jumped up, using Teeter Dance as she came down, and doing a quick, wobbly dance. Dragonair and Cory then switched spots, and Dragonair coiled up, using Aqua Tail to make water droplets fly around him as he spun in his coil. Finally, Tia replaced him with a high kick and twirl, ending with Attract, and joined the other four in an ending pose. Kami was on one knee with her arms out to the sides, behind Cory—who stood on one leg and with her pom-poms waving in the air, and Tia—who also stood on one leg, and one claw out to one side, Dragonair stood majestically behind Kami.

"While other trainers simply stand with their Pokemon, we were taught to always end with a pose," Kami explained with a huge grin and a wink.

I clapped my flippers together, they were _amazing!_ I was so excited to get to work with them.

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 **So I figured this would be a good ending point... I hope it is**


End file.
